My attention was drawn to rinsing efficiency after noticing that out of dozens of washing machines reviewed by Which? most of them had a poor rating for rinsing. Even those singled out as Best Buys were “poor” at rinsing. Believe it or not, at least one Best Buy was “very poor”. I found that pretty shocking.
From studying the figures it is clear that if “good”, or “very good” rinsing was one of the prerequisites for a Best Buy there would be no Best Buy washing machines or washer dryers at all – not a single one. It appears that Which? have decided to allow the poor rinsing results to be a caveat instead of a best buy killer. Please note however that several Which? best buys are “satisfactory” at rinsing which is something at least.
Out of 125 washing machines and washer dryers tested, a remarkable 75 of them (60%) were rated either “poor” or “very poor” at rinsing with only 3 getting the rating we should expect for all washing machines which is “good”.
The rest were a mere “satisfactory”. To summarise, just less than 3 % of the 125 washers & dryers are “good” at rinsing according to Which?
Since writing this article I’ve discovered Which? no longer give the majority of washing machines 1 or 2 star ratings for rinsing ability, and the majority appear to get 3 or 4 stars. Which? tell me they’ve readjusted their rinse marks to more accurately reflect the degrees of abilities between even poor rinsing machines. However, they are still critical of many of their rinsing abilities in the comments and the pros and cons.
What does this mean?
Well for a start it doesn’t mean that we can settle for one of the three washing machines that are “good” at rinsing because they unfortunately let themselves down in other areas such as with “noisy spin, and poor brand reliability”. However, if you really need a washing machine that rinses better than any other – maybe because of allergies – then at least Which? have identified three candidates out of the 125 they’ve tested so far.
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Why aren’t they rinsing properly and does it really matter?
Surely all washing machines should rinse well? It’s surely quite simple, you just use enough water to rinse them properly. It’s astounding that we have reached the situation where the majority of washing machines and washer dryers on sale in the UK are apparently poor at rinsing.
This has probably come about because people have been focussing on other aspects, which has left rinsing as a low priority. Two explanations spring to mind. Firstly, the focus on using less and less water is clearly impacting on our washing machine’s ability to rinse effectively. Whereas modern detergents can facilitate efficient and effective washing results at lower temperatures and with less water, no such product is currently allowing effective rinsing with much less water.
Good rinsing needs plenty of water which is in direct opposition to the current environmental concerns and clamour to be the washing machine using the least amount of water.
Eco LabelsThe second explanation I can think of is that the eco-labelling system which awards ratings for energy efficiency, spin efficiency and wash efficiency do not appear to take into account rinse efficiency.
As such, manufacturers aren’t being judged on how well their washing machines rinse, only on how well they wash and how well they extract water on spin. I’m speculating at this stage, but I can’t see how so many washing machines could be awarded an “A” wash efficiency rating if the tests took into account how well the clothes were rinsed. Presumably, as long as all stains are removed and laundry looks “clean” no one bothers about how much soap detergent residue is left.
It might be a good idea to create a fourth category, “rinse efficiency” on the eco labels, or at least include the rinse efficiency as part of the wash efficiency test.
Ultimately if customers don’t notice an issue then it could be argued that it doesn’t really matter.
Maybe it doesn’t for most people, but it surely does to anyone sensitive to wash detergents and with allergies and a lot of people are. There were 581 comments added on this topic from such people before I had to close comments to prevent it being endless.
The current situation is that to anyone keen to buy a washing machine with good rinsing I have no washing machine to recommend because none of the companies producing the best, and the most reliable washing machines currently supply one that rinses above average according to Which? although this could easily change and you would need to check out the latest to be sure.
Are Which? being too critical? Are Which? applying too stringent a rinse test? I must admit I’ve not had many complaints from people saying their washing machine isn’t rinsing properly and my own Miele washing machine, which although a Which? Best Buy, didn’t receive a “good” rating for rinsing yet it appears to rinse perfectly well as far as we can see.
In fact I remarked to my wife that my clothes don’t smell of detergent like they used to in the old washing machine and deduced that it rinsed much better. However, neither of us have any reactions to washing machine detergent. The thing about Which? is that they are totally independent.
They work only for their subscribers interests and are actually a registered charity. They don’t make any money directly by recommending any product (even though they could) because they want to be seen as 100% unbiased. They are highly respected and I expect they test products fairly. However, my understanding is that the do charge for companies to display their “Best Buy” logo!
I suspect Which? are right and that modern washing machines don’t generally rinse very well because of the reasons I speculate about above. Whether it matters or whether it will change depends on whether enough of the public are bothered, or even notice. The 581 comments added to this article below show that many people do find this a big issue.
Which? research
NOTE: Which? do rate some washing machines as satisfactory for rinsing and even a couple are rated as good, although unfortunately the few rated good (so far) are not so good on reliability.
Which? are constantly reviewing washing machines so if rinsing is particularly important to you it makes sense to become a member and see all the buying advice. I can’t print their advice for copyright reasons.
Here’s how they describe their reviews –
We are of course well known for our traditional product testing. And when we test something like the proverbial washing machine, we will ask the laboratory not only to measure how clean the clothes get, but how much water and energy is used? How easy is it to work out the programmes? What is the machine like on specialist cycles? How long does it take? All these things feed into our best buy criteria.
We will devise the testing schedule by looking at things from the ordinary user’s point of view: and if standard industry methods are not good enough we will devise our own methods ”
Causes of poor rinsing
There are some common causes of poor rinsing even in washing machines that do rinse well that it might be useful to point out. Anyone experiencing poor rinsing problems where washing comes out with detergent residues or white powder streaks should read this – White streaks or residual washing powder after washing
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Thanks for the info about the bearings Oliver. It’s so very sad that by adding extra water to a modern washing machine to get your clothes rinsed properly, it could be putting a bit more strain on the suspension and springs. I don’t care, I’d rather not itch and not have my clothing smell very strongly of detergent. As for the 1600rpm spin, the quickwash re-rinse only spins at this speed for about 1 minute and the clothes are just as well spun as they would be if I run the standard cotton programme with the 1600rpm speed – which spins for ages! For that reason, I lower the spin speed to 900 for the main cotton programme, then have it set to 1600 for the final spin of the re-rinse “quick wash”.
You and Simon Smith both say you can smell a faint smell of the detergent after rinsing in lots of cold water. I wonder why I’m having difficulty smelling *any* detergent fragrance after rinsing in plenty of warm water? Unless my sense of smell isn’t very good?? That said, before I discovered this page, my washing used to smell strongly of the detergent’s perfume and you couldn’t help but to notice the fragrances! Obviously my re-rinsing and warm water method must be working and my skin is better now than it’s ever been. My clothes feel much softer now too, that’s using the same amount of fabric softener.
Hi WMUser,
The first thing I can tell you is I have a VERY keen sense of smell, which is a pain, I hate the smell of all laundry products and shower gels and bath products etc. I also smell some horrors in my job and believe me it ain’t pleasant! I often report smells nobody else can smell and people think I’m imaging it!
The second thing is I do not use any kind of fabric conditioner, and as far as I know neither does Simon, Surcare may not have a perfume but it still coats the fibres in oil, so could hide a faint smell of detergent. Also you have never told us what kind and format of detergent you actually use, knowing that may provide the answer you are looking for.
My excema and dermatitis are not affected at all by the washing anymore, if there was any detergent residue left my skin would tell me, the perfume is suppost to heave when you take your laundry out of the machine, so the faint smell does tell you how well things are rinsed considering how strong Persil smells when its in the box.
I certainly don’t doubt for a second that your re-rinsing and warm water rinsing are working, in fact quite the opposite, like you say your skin tells you, its like having a sixth sense!
All the best,
Oliver.
Hi Oliver, I now use Ariel powder, one for colours and the other one for whites (the latter being in a green box which has the oxygen bleach in its ingredients). I’ve used Persil in the past, but I’ve heard Ariel may be a bit better – I don’t think anyone can go wrong with either Ariel or Persil as any laundry detergent needs plenty of water to rinse it off properly. But I’ve noticed they foam more now than they used to on small loads, so have to use less, which I find works.
I like soft clothes and never had any problems with Surcare softener. I like my washing feeling very soft, I can’t stand even the slightest feeling of roughness on fabrics. I don’t care about the oily film the softener may leave in the laundry and washing machine as it should get washed away in the next wash and regular maintenance washes will keep the inside of the washing machine clear of everything.
As you will know from reading my earlier comments, I use soda crystals (aka washing soda) in every wash as I live in a “hard water” area and sometimes if I have to wash small loads, therefore I can safely use less powder to avoid foaming and not worry about limescale – which is a CONSTANT nuisance!
The smell of perfumes are no longer there now that I re-rinse my washing and make sure I’m using plenty of WARM water. Before I discovered how much detergent gets left behind in the clothes, I was using fabric conditioner and the perfume smell was strong, then as I tried various methods of adding more cold water, running water-guzzling programmes without detergent etc and the smell became much less. Since using LOTS of WARM water, the washing comes out not smelling of anything.
I don’t care about the bit of extra strain on the washing machine and around 5 – 10 minutes of time needed to add all this extra hot water – my skin needs clothes that are free from all these irritant chemicals in laundry detergent.
Hi WMUser,
I used to use Ariel (and did for a long time)and found it did not make the laundry as perfumed as Persil, so combined with your re rinsing with a lot of warm water that explains the lack of perfume on the wash at the end of the cycle, also the use of the Surcare will help too I believe. I wonder if there would be a lingering smell from Persil if you tried that, the perfume is so strong in the box it nearly puts your lights out!!
I switched to Persil as I heard that Unilever detergents rinse out easier than proctor & Gambles offerings, whether that is true or not I wouldn’t like to say, however they do foam alot less. I find Persil cleans better, but I think this is down to my Bosch having very short wash cycles, so it is probably reacting faster than Ariel. But as you say Persil and Ariel are the two top performers. Daz and Bold are mediocore and Surf is just plain rubbish, it cannot even remove chip fat from a cotton jumper on a boil wash with a biological pre-wash. Ariel and Persil would have easily.
With regard to limescale, I have heard of a little magnetic attachment the fits between the cold water tap and the fill hose of the washing machine, I think it is made by Hotpoint. The sound an utter waste of time, however the physics involved does work and they have been proven to work by people in hard water areas and comments have been how much more the detergents etc. foam. So clearly they do soften the water. Its about £20.00 from memory. They work by rounding off the particles of limescale in the water, an normally they have jaggered edges and therefore stick, but once rounded off don’t stick and just get pumped down the drain.
All the best,
Oliver.
I am over the moon that i found this website. The problem in all this is that people wash more these days and the eco washing mashines had to be invented to help reducing pollution. I think that the problem is not only in rinsing cycles but also in washing cycle. i have a washing maschine in my rented appartment in which you cannot see the water durring the washing cycle and at the beginning of each rinsing cycle. i end up pouring a bucket and half of water in my washing maching each time and i rinse it several time after the cycle is finished which means that the automatic washing mashine becomes half automatic really. I add water for the wash cycle mainly so my clothes does not rub against each other but against the soapy water which prevents the clothes being ruined after few washes. the saddest thing is that manufacturers are promoting their water reducing technologies as their selling point because most consumers will want to know how much they can save and not how good it will wash and rinse. the manual for the washing machine in my appartment says that the reason why i cannot see any water durring the washing cycle is because they have managed to reduce the water usage by half
using new technologies. very proud, well done, haha! are people really that thick?
Please moderate the comment if neccesary, English is not my first language.
@Mira, well done for adding the extra water!! All this “water saving” nonsense causes no end of problems; it’s a fictitious reality of “running out” of water by using enough to actually wash and rinse clothes properly.
Oliver, I checked out that link. If only I could have the washing machine pulled out and have work done on the plumbing. Instead, I have a plastic ball with magnets inside which stays in the drum. I don’t know if it’s making any difference to the limescale particles and I’m still adding soda crystals to the main wash to physically soften the water and thus reduce the “wear and tear” on the clothes. On that same page you link to Oliver, I’m surprised to see descaler for dishwashers – dishwashers should never suffer from limescale problems as the built-in water softener combats this (sorry to go off topic here, that’s a question for an engineer of dishwashers to answer).
I don’t know if soft water versus hard water improves or alters rinsing in washing machines. Has anyone noticed a difference in washing and rinsing quality after moving from a “hard water” area to a “soft water” area – or vice-versa?
I’m still more convinced that warm or hot water rinses better. I know the extra weight of 1/2 a drum of water may strain the washing machine, however you can safely add 1/3 of a drum of hot water in two separate rinses and it’s ok for non-delicates.
My friend told me about the magnetic ball today. It looks like it works. She had a mechanic in not long ago and he told her that there is no limescale in her washing machine at all. She does not use anything else. The only problem with her washing machine was that she did not clean the filter for the whole 10 years :)
Regarding hot water for rinsing, it is a fact that warm water rinses better than cold. The washing instructions on some of my baby clothes recommend rinsing in warm water. I remember that old washing machines used to be connected to both hot and cold water. I think they used to use warm water for rinsing too. The new washing machines are connected only to the cold water.
When it comes to hard water or soft water, the logic tells me that if you need to use more washing powder with hard water then hard water does not wash as effectivelly as soft water. The same may be true for rinsing.
Hi WMUser and Mira,
First of all hard water versus soft water for rinsing, you need more detergent to remove the limescale from the water if it is hard as Mira points out, however hard water also kills detergent alot better than soft, this is why you need a hell of a lot less for soft water. Also soft water is not as good at removing detergent, but as you need less in the first place, this is irrelevant. Its horses for courses really. Same result in the end.
The magnetic balls do not work simply because they are thrown in the drum with the washing. For a magnetic field to correctly soften the water ALL the water has to flow THROUGH the field, the device I linked to does exactly this. Your friend Mira has probably used the correct amount of detergent over the machines life, hence the lack of limescale. I have seen scaled up machines from people using these balls.
To fit the Calblock device to the machine there is no plumbling involved, turn the water off at the tap, unscrew the washing machines fill hose, screw the Calblock device on to the tap, then screw the fill hose on to the Calblock, turn the water back on and if there are no leaks you are back in business, its a 2 minute job tops.
Regarding dishwashers scaling up, if the water softener is not set up correctly (they have multiple positions) then there will not be enough brine in the water to neutralise the scale, hence the machine scaling up, this is a VERY common occourance as people do not read insrtuctions properly or at all. Secondly not filling the salt reservoir often enough, so it is not always using it in every load will scale it up eventually. And lastly those stupid whatever in one tablets do not work, they do not do what they say on the box, so also scale damage can occour. The best way is seperate salt and detergent and set the machine to the water conditions in your area for a trouble free wash. We have never had an ounce of scale build up in the 4 and a 1/2 years we have had our dishwasher as when we got it I set the water softener up correctly, bearing in mind it does about 10 loads a week and it is on the hot water supply thats not bad at all. our water is fairly soft though.
All the best,
Oliver.
Hi Oliver,
You made some interesting points there and they make sense too. I will let my friend know about the ball.
Does anyone know of any better brand washing machine that uses more water than the new eco friendly ones? My brother is looking for a new wasching machine to buy. I used to have a washing machine that was eco friendly but had a special program that used twice as much water compared to the rest of the programs. With variable temperatures it may be the best bet these days. I can’t remember the name of it.
Oh, and does anyone know whether those “diamond” drums are any good? Mielle machines have them but I am not convinced wether they make any difference.
Hi Mira,
Miele have a-Water Plus option that increases the water level to 1/3 up the door for rinsing and just lapping at the bottom of the glass on wash. However most Miele machines only do 2 rinses, which is not sufficient at all. Some have the option to add a third rinse but they still do not rinse properly. This is the highest available water use currently on the domestic market.
The Diamond drums are off the Samsung range of washing machines and are just a blatant copy of Miele’s Honeycomb drum, and as far as I can tell they make absolutely NO difference, just another selling point!
My parents have a Miele tumble drier in stainless steel, they have only had it a few weeks and that to has a-Honey-Comb drum and frankly the laundry coming out feels exactly the same as the laundry coming out of my White-Knight. We have all agreed it makes no difference and Miele are just trying to get people sucked in to buying their products. Don’t get me wrong though it is an excellent machine well worth the £1399.99 asking price!
All the best,
Oliver.